New Bill to Give All 9/11 First Responders Unlimited Sick Leave

A new bill introduced would grant all 9/11 first responders unlimited sick leave so they can get treatment for the never-ending list of illnesses and afflictions. The new legislation would extend benefits to all first responders in New York state, after last year's act granting support to workers in the city suffering from the effects of 9/11.

A few days ago on March 23, Fire Department Battalion Chief David M. Lachenauer died peacefully at his home, aged 61, after a long battle with cancer. He was the latest in a long line of emergency workers and other first responders who worked in the debris from the destruction of the World Trade Center towers to have died from 9/11-related illnesses. Yonkers fire union president and 9/11 first responder Barry McGoey told local news:

"We've had numerous members who are deceased now, relatively young men, who are deceased with 9/11 illnesses."

McGoey hopes that the new bill will help to remedy the problem, by extending unlimited sick leave benefits to all 9/11 first responders, including utility workers who worked on the World Trade Center pile. He pointed out that, "Many first responders from the surrounding community and all of the state of New York, they're becoming ill many years later and are forced to use their own sick leave."

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill last year that granted limitless sick leave to 9/11 first responders from within New York city, and those who had subsequently moved out to the surrounding boroughs. The new legislation would provide the same help to all first responders anywhere in the state. State Senator Terrence Murphy, who co-sponsored the new legislation, said, "This is just the right thing to do for people that came to protect us in a time of need."

Thomas Phelan, firefighter who evacuated hundreds on 9/11, dies of cancer at 45. https://t.co/NBFj63W0Tq Such a shame. So many first responders who saved so many lives — at great risk to their own — have died from or have #cancer.

The bill was introduced into the Senate last week and will now go to the state Assembly.

Did the EPA Lie About the Air Quality?

Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, with large parts of Manhattan covered in the dust from the destruction of the twin towers, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said there was nothing to worry about. EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said that, "Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York… that their air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink."

After five years of emergency workers and first responders developing serious health problems, in 2006 an EPA scientist blew the whistle, saying the EPA had lied about the air quality and the health risks, and were responsible for those who were suffering. Dr Cate Jenkins said, "This dust was highly caustic, in some cases, as caustic and alkaline as Drano."

In 2011 the first long-term study of the health effects of 9/11 found a high incidence of several conditions, including asthma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, sinusitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The study examined more than 27,000 police officers, construction workers, firefighters, and municipal workers and found that 28 percent had asthma, 42 percent had sinusitis, and 39 percent had GERD. 42 percent of patients had abnormal lung function tests, 28 percent of rescue and recovery workers had symptoms of depression, 32 percent experienced symptoms of PTSD, and 21 percent had symptoms consistent with panic disorder.

It would be a further five years before Whitman apologised for her misleading statements. In 2016, on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the attacks, she said, "I'm very sorry that people are sick. I'm very sorry that people are dying and if the EPA and I in any way contributed to that, I'm sorry. We did the very best we could at the time with the knowledge we had."

Hello,
!

We are committed to protecting your personal information and we have updated our Privacy Policy to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a new EU regulation that went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Please review our Privacy Policy. It contains details about the types of data we collect, how we use it, and your data protection rights.

Since you already shared your personal data with us when you created your personal account, to continue using it, please check the box below:

I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of creating a personal account on this site, in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

If you do not want us to continue processing your data, please click here to delete your account.

promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;

contains links to viruses and malicious software;

is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");

“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;

violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");

doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.